The good, bad, and ugly from this week’s episode of WWE Raw

Heydorn’s Raw Receipt 1/27/25

The good, bad, and ugly from this week’s episode of WWE Raw.

-It’s Royal Rumble week, so the tried and true “parade of WWE stars to the ring” segment was predictable to start the show this week. Seth Rollins, Gunther, and Logan Paul was an interesting mix of talent to toss out there, but each of them helped put over the Royal Rumble match on Saturday and continued to fan flames of different angles the match could go. Paul was getting ridiculous heat out there. You can’t give him a Rumble win, but he’s very valuable if he keeps getting that kind of a reaction.

We really didn’t see him

-Where was John Cena? Cena had the big promo declaring a Rumble win and nothing this week on the go-home show? Cena is effective at cutting the go-home babyface promo, so either he’s not winning or WWE is trying to mess around and keep Cena out of the fronts of fans’ brains, so the win is surprising when it happens. Both of those scenarios are worse than just having him be a part of the build to the match in the truest sense.

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-Sami Zayn didn’t parade out to the ring with the others, but he got a moment backstage with CM Punk and Karrion Kross — a moment that solidified his underdog Royal Rumble victory story that we’re set to see play out in some capacity on Saturday night. Zayn is great in that role and he played these conversations perfectly.

-How about that War Raiders vs. Judgment Day tag team match? As a tag team wrestling enthusiast, more of that please! Look, it makes sense for WWE to have a functioning tag team division that people care about. In a world where you need to produce 104 main events across two television programs, why not invest a little time and effort into making tag team wrestling something that can occupy those spots? This match was proof that it can work.

Scary stuff

-How JD McDonagh’s head is still attached to his body is beyond me. That was a vicious bump and inches away from being a catastrophic accident. He’s going to miss some time, but I’m glad the prognosis isn’t anything devastating. Holy shit that was scary.

-What’s with The New Day? What started out as a compelling heel turn with depth has turned into a very one note troll job. Not only are they doing the same schtick every week, but Woods and Kingston are losing matches too. They already can’t salvage the initial heat that set this entire thing into motion. It’s not totally dead, though. New Day needs a push to go along with whatever this is. So far, they haven’t gotten it and the storyline is floundering.

-Jey Uso cut a face-saving promo out there this week that was effective in acknowledging the loss to Gunther at Saturday Night’s Main Event, but also setting a story in motion about him winning the Royal Rumble. Obviously, it’s likely he won’t, but an “A” for effort in generating another angle for the match to go. Thumbs up.
What’s next for Liv?

-Tag Team Championship Match incoming for Liv Morgan and Raquel Rodriguez after they got a W over the champs this week. Morgan is in an interesting spot right now. Having the world title and Rhea Ripley to play off of made her character pop and now she doesn’t have either. Can she stay relevant and over? Time will tell.

-The Paul Heyman and Drew McIntyre promo was tremendous. It felt like two pros calling it in the ring and the result was a tense exchange that built up a moment between Drew McIntyre and Roman Reigns during the Rumble match on Saturday. They name-dropped Brock Lesnar. A hint of things to come? I doubt it.

-Drew McIntyre vs. Sami Zayn was a totally fine main event, but a tired one at this point. The match served as a launching pad for the shenanigans with Cody Rhodes and Kevin Owens and that match doesn’t really need any other juice in terms of build at this point.

Downward spiral

-The real main event was the promo segment between Cody Rhodes and CM Punk that closed the show. This was a wonderful piece of business. Punk straight up asking Rhodes if he was “ok” was a a little dark and Rhodes reacting to that question the way he did was even darker. Punk playing off of his experience as champion and projecting that feeling onto Cody worked to not only build up Cody, but it starkly defined just how heavy the world championship really is.

What did you think of this week’s episode of WWE Raw? Let us know in the comments!